A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
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Re: A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
D. Sea on Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:36 pm
Over the weekend I got my rings file fitted, GEEZ I forgot how long that takes 
Also verified my oil clearances for the mains and rods and got the crank in but it's not torqued down yet. With the .001 undersize bearings my mains came in at 0.0030 to 0.0034 Rod clearances are 0.0025 to 0.0029
I had to do some more grinding on the A460 block to clear the front crank counterweight. I had only .020" of clearance between the front counterweight corner and the block. I had already ground on that corner of the block but need to grind out a little more. I was like a surgeon and taped off the WHOLE block except for that one little corner
I have about .300" clearance now :wink:
On a side note Chuck had to take the crank out of his engine. The rear main bearing and crank have a few shallow grooves from some dirt or
After checking his main bores, bearing ID and crank OD his main oil clearance is only .0021" Kinda tight! He's going to have Butch polish the crank and we need to get new bearings. A few of the other main bearings had some shiny spots and all the rod bearings looked new. The main bores were in the middle of the spec as well as his crank.
The crank is .020/.020, He'll have to order new bearings from his best buddy Lem
Hope to get the short block together by this weekend and maybe the heads on by Sunday but only time will tell........
Also verified my oil clearances for the mains and rods and got the crank in but it's not torqued down yet. With the .001 undersize bearings my mains came in at 0.0030 to 0.0034 Rod clearances are 0.0025 to 0.0029
I had to do some more grinding on the A460 block to clear the front crank counterweight. I had only .020" of clearance between the front counterweight corner and the block. I had already ground on that corner of the block but need to grind out a little more. I was like a surgeon and taped off the WHOLE block except for that one little corner
I have about .300" clearance now :wink:
On a side note Chuck had to take the crank out of his engine. The rear main bearing and crank have a few shallow grooves from some dirt or
After checking his main bores, bearing ID and crank OD his main oil clearance is only .0021" Kinda tight! He's going to have Butch polish the crank and we need to get new bearings. A few of the other main bearings had some shiny spots and all the rod bearings looked new. The main bores were in the middle of the spec as well as his crank.
The crank is .020/.020, He'll have to order new bearings from his best buddy Lem
Hope to get the short block together by this weekend and maybe the heads on by Sunday but only time will tell........
D. Sea- Posts: 2122
Join date: 2008-12-02
Age: 42
Location: Shelbyville, KY 
Re: A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
D. Sea on Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:38 pm
Picture of the crank as I test fit it in the A460 block. Notice the front counterweight clearance at the corner of the counterweight and corner of the block.
Chuck and Nurse Eddie (His Father) are in the back ground working on Chuck's engine.
Chuck and Nurse Eddie (His Father) are in the back ground working on Chuck's engine.
D. Sea- Posts: 2122
Join date: 2008-12-02
Age: 42
Location: Shelbyville, KY -
Re: A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
D. Sea on Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:40 pm
Got the short block together this weekend minus the oil pump and windage tray. Developed a major migraine Sunday and headed home after getting the pistons and rods in the engine.
BTW: This tapered piston ring compressor is SWEET!!! I'll NEVER use my clamp style piston ring compressor EVER again
Crank Thrust clearance is .004" right at the minimum of the spec.
Piston to valve clearance:
Exhaust Valve 0.125"
Intake Valve 0.137"
It's getting closer.
I'm sure that I've said this before but I'll say it again, I HATE installing spirol locks
I need to clean my heads, intake and oil pan and then final assemlby should go rather quickly.
I remember the first time I built an engine, it went so FAST! Of course that old 390 wasn't a race engine and I just slapped it together without measuring anything
Pictures:
BTW: This tapered piston ring compressor is SWEET!!! I'll NEVER use my clamp style piston ring compressor EVER again
Crank Thrust clearance is .004" right at the minimum of the spec.
Piston to valve clearance:
Exhaust Valve 0.125"
Intake Valve 0.137"
It's getting closer.
I'm sure that I've said this before but I'll say it again, I HATE installing spirol locks
I need to clean my heads, intake and oil pan and then final assemlby should go rather quickly.
I remember the first time I built an engine, it went so FAST! Of course that old 390 wasn't a race engine and I just slapped it together without measuring anything
Pictures:
D. Sea- Posts: 2122
Join date: 2008-12-02
Age: 42
Location: Shelbyville, KY -
Re: A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
D. Sea on Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:41 pm
Well another Saturday spent in the shop didn't quite get the results that I was looking for. Seems that murphy is working against me.
When I say Muprhy, it's really not a BIG deal however these small delays keep adding up for someone as time limited as myself and it get's frustrating
OK Saturday morning I start to tape up the block so I can paint it before it rusts anymore And the STUPID tape is JUNK and won't stick. Must be old tape or something. So I do the best I can and then clean up an old oil pan as well as an old timning chain cover for the painting process.
Get it painted and while it's drying I clean up the oil pump,shaft and windage tray.
Get the oil pump on and then test fit the windage tray. Well a couple of rod bolts are slightly touching the windage tray at the very bottom of the rotation.
Fortunately I have some hardened 1/2" washers and nuts from some old FE head studs that I used to run, they are NEW and work just fine. Washers spaced the windage tray out another .120" and all clears with room to spare.
Then bolted up the pick up and snapped a few pictures.
I was about to clean up the heads and bolt them on and decided to put the timing chain cover on instead so that I can cover the bottom with the oil pan. So I get all that stuff cleaned up and bolted on including the front engine plate with no issues.
Now I get the oil pan gasket out, lay it on the block and try to get the oil pan on. A couple of the oil pan gasket inserts need to be enlarged or removed (See Oil Pan Gasket Thread I posted on earlier) but that shouldn't be an issue now.
HOWEVER the oil pan is getting pushed out due to the LARGE main caps. I thought that I had remedied this problem when I tweaked some of the bolt holes to clear the aftermarket caps on my old block. Well it's still TIGHT with these HUGE caps so I have to tweak the pan again after I spend a half hour cleaning the pan over and over again to make sure EVERYTHING was clean and dry! So I spend the next half hour enlarging some of the bolt holes in the direction it needs to move in order to get the bolts started.
Moral of this story Test fit the oil pan with the caps on the block and don't assume that it will clear Now this is a Canton FOX chassis pan made for a production block. The aftermarket race pans are made differently and won't have this issue.
So that's as far as I got. Spent Sunday chained up in the basement drilling holes into concrete and screwing 2 X 4's onto walls
BTW Chuck got his crank back into his engine, you can see him in the background of one of the pictures.
I'm taking a Vacation day tomorrow and working in the shop ALL DAY LONG untils this engine is COMPLETE!
Wish me luck :wink:
When I say Muprhy, it's really not a BIG deal however these small delays keep adding up for someone as time limited as myself and it get's frustrating
OK Saturday morning I start to tape up the block so I can paint it before it rusts anymore
And the STUPID tape is JUNK and won't stick. Must be old tape or something. So I do the best I can and then clean up an old oil pan as well as an old timning chain cover for the painting process.Get it painted and while it's drying I clean up the oil pump,shaft and windage tray.
Get the oil pump on and then test fit the windage tray. Well a couple of rod bolts are slightly touching the windage tray at the very bottom of the rotation.
Fortunately I have some hardened 1/2" washers and nuts from some old FE head studs that I used to run, they are NEW and work just fine. Washers spaced the windage tray out another .120" and all clears with room to spare.
Then bolted up the pick up and snapped a few pictures.
I was about to clean up the heads and bolt them on and decided to put the timing chain cover on instead so that I can cover the bottom with the oil pan. So I get all that stuff cleaned up and bolted on including the front engine plate with no issues.
Now I get the oil pan gasket out, lay it on the block and try to get the oil pan on. A couple of the oil pan gasket inserts need to be enlarged or removed (See Oil Pan Gasket Thread I posted on earlier) but that shouldn't be an issue now.
HOWEVER the oil pan is getting pushed out due to the LARGE main caps. I thought that I had remedied this problem when I tweaked some of the bolt holes to clear the aftermarket caps on my old block. Well it's still TIGHT with these HUGE caps so I have to tweak the pan again after I spend a half hour cleaning the pan over and over again to make sure EVERYTHING was clean and dry! So I spend the next half hour enlarging some of the bolt holes in the direction it needs to move in order to get the bolts started.
Moral of this story
Test fit the oil pan with the caps on the block and don't assume that it will clear Now this is a Canton FOX chassis pan made for a production block. The aftermarket race pans are made differently and won't have this issue.So that's as far as I got. Spent Sunday chained up in the basement drilling holes into concrete and screwing 2 X 4's onto walls
BTW Chuck got his crank back into his engine, you can see him in the background of one of the pictures.
I'm taking a Vacation day tomorrow and working in the shop ALL DAY LONG untils this engine is COMPLETE!
Wish me luck :wink:
D. Sea- Posts: 2122
Join date: 2008-12-02
Age: 42
Location: Shelbyville, KY -
Re: A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
D. Sea on Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:48 pm
What a BEAUTIFUL day to take off from work! Man it was sunny, warm and in the 70's!
Yesterday was a Very productive day! The engine is assembled. Need to bolt on the harmonic balancer, drop in the dizzy and screw in my rear oil feed line. Need to get some new spark plugs too.
First thing I did was drill out the Four 5/16" bolt holes for oil pan inserts and then put on the oil pan. (Ford Racing One Piece Oil Pan gasket) and install the Canton Fox Chassis pan.
I torqued the heads down to 135ft-lbs in steps of 75, 105 and then 135 using 30wt oil. About an hour later I broke them down and then retorqued them to 135ft-lbs with 30wt oil and no issues. Spent a lot of time just cleaning parts, scraping gaskets (Intake) etc........
Anyway, After I got the heads on and the pushrods & rockers, I mounted my 'test' oil pressure gage and filled 'er up with 7 quarts of Valvoline 20W 50 Racing oil. THEN is when I realized that the oil pump primer that I have is for a FE and won't fit the 5/16 385 series engine......... SO I used a 5/16 deep well 1/4" drive socket and a couple of extensions. Well then I realized that my 3/8" drill won't fit the extension & my 1/2" drill is in the basement at home. SO I did it the old fashion way. A speed wrench and some elbow grease! Worked like a charm, wore me out and I got 75 to 80psi pressure with the speed wrench! Finally got oil up to the top of each roller rocker so I was a HAPPY man! AND no oil leaks 'knock on wood'
Then at the end of the day Chuck helped me put on the intake. He was the pointer and I was the torquer LOL!!
During the day, poor ole Eddie (Chuck's dad) helped my dad work on the tractor and then he had to tape up Chucks engine for paint while Chuck went off to get fitted for his new seat and cage.
Did I mention it was a BEAUTIFUL day to take off work? That's for you Chris
Yesterday was a Very productive day! The engine is assembled. Need to bolt on the harmonic balancer, drop in the dizzy and screw in my rear oil feed line. Need to get some new spark plugs too.
First thing I did was drill out the Four 5/16" bolt holes for oil pan inserts and then put on the oil pan. (Ford Racing One Piece Oil Pan gasket) and install the Canton Fox Chassis pan.
I torqued the heads down to 135ft-lbs in steps of 75, 105 and then 135 using 30wt oil. About an hour later I broke them down and then retorqued them to 135ft-lbs with 30wt oil and no issues. Spent a lot of time just cleaning parts, scraping gaskets (Intake) etc........
Anyway, After I got the heads on and the pushrods & rockers, I mounted my 'test' oil pressure gage and filled 'er up with 7 quarts of Valvoline 20W 50 Racing oil. THEN is when I realized that the oil pump primer that I have is for a FE and won't fit the 5/16 385 series engine......... SO I used a 5/16 deep well 1/4" drive socket and a couple of extensions. Well then I realized that my 3/8" drill won't fit the extension & my 1/2" drill is in the basement at home. SO I did it the old fashion way. A speed wrench and some elbow grease! Worked like a charm, wore me out and I got 75 to 80psi pressure with the speed wrench! Finally got oil up to the top of each roller rocker so I was a HAPPY man! AND no oil leaks 'knock on wood'
Then at the end of the day Chuck helped me put on the intake. He was the pointer and I was the torquer LOL!!
During the day, poor ole Eddie (Chuck's dad) helped my dad work on the tractor and then he had to tape up Chucks engine for paint while Chuck went off to get fitted for his new seat and cage.
Did I mention it was a BEAUTIFUL day to take off work? That's for you Chris
D. Sea- Posts: 2122
Join date: 2008-12-02
Age: 42
Location: Shelbyville, KY -
Re: A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
D. Sea on Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:51 pm
Well took a vacation day yesterday in order to work on the car/engine. Got the valves all adjusted, dizzy in, balancer and pulley bolted on along with the alternator etc.........
Bolted the engine to the hoist in order to bolt up the flexplate and tranny. Well evidently the flange on the crank PLUS the thickness of the new flexplate has taken up all my converter to flexplate clearance. I'm getting between -0.002" and 0.020" clearance. NOT GOOD! So I bolted up the old Scat flexplate and with it I'm getting 0.085" to 0.090" clearance.
This includes the .093" thick midplate that I have.
SO I have my converter with me at work and after work I'm going to chuck it up in the lathe and take off about .075"
I know 1/8" or .125" is the typical clearance one requires but after speaking with Jim at JPT I'm just going to shave the converter face plate about .075" to .080"
The conveter face plate is fairly THICK. I'll measure it when I get the chance to let you know exactly how thick it is now.
Chris aka Topsportsman called me yesterday afternoon in hopes of hearing the engine fire but it just wasn't meant to be
The flange is 0.315" thick now. If I take off .080" will it be too thin? That will leave me .235"
Bolted the engine to the hoist in order to bolt up the flexplate and tranny. Well evidently the flange on the crank PLUS the thickness of the new flexplate has taken up all my converter to flexplate clearance. I'm getting between -0.002" and 0.020" clearance. NOT GOOD! So I bolted up the old Scat flexplate and with it I'm getting 0.085" to 0.090" clearance.
This includes the .093" thick midplate that I have.
SO I have my converter with me at work and after work I'm going to chuck it up in the lathe and take off about .075"
I know 1/8" or .125" is the typical clearance one requires but after speaking with Jim at JPT I'm just going to shave the converter face plate about .075" to .080"
The conveter face plate is fairly THICK. I'll measure it when I get the chance to let you know exactly how thick it is now.
Chris aka Topsportsman called me yesterday afternoon in hopes of hearing the engine fire but it just wasn't meant to be
The flange is 0.315" thick now. If I take off .080" will it be too thin? That will leave me .235"
D. Sea- Posts: 2122
Join date: 2008-12-02
Age: 42
Location: Shelbyville, KY -
Re: A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
D. Sea on Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:52 pm
The beast is alive and it sounds HUNGRY!!! My stupid timing light is broken so I coudn't set the timing where I wanted but it's fairly close. I'll see if I need a new bulb or a new light, it's a Craftsman Inductive with the advance dial on the back and is about 10 years old.
Changed the oil after running if for about 15 minutes. Oil looked fine, magnetic pan plugs looked fine so I'm good to go!
I still need to bleed my brakes and then it's ready to eat some asphalt.
Added another spring to the carb to help bring the throttle back at WOT. Scrounged around the shop and found a shifter cable bracket that will work until I can find something better.
When I first tried to start the engine... NOTHING! Wouldn't even click! So I jumped the solenoid and it turned over. Off to the parts store to get a new solenoid that is MADE IN THE USA and not some cheap china crap! Works like a charm now!
If I can get the chance, I may try to make it to a Test & Tune Friday April 20th, the week before the BBF Bash.
Changed the oil after running if for about 15 minutes. Oil looked fine, magnetic pan plugs looked fine so I'm good to go!
I still need to bleed my brakes and then it's ready to eat some asphalt.
Added another spring to the carb to help bring the throttle back at WOT. Scrounged around the shop and found a shifter cable bracket that will work until I can find something better.
When I first tried to start the engine... NOTHING! Wouldn't even click! So I jumped the solenoid and it turned over. Off to the parts store to get a new solenoid that is MADE IN THE USA and not some cheap china crap! Works like a charm now!
If I can get the chance, I may try to make it to a Test & Tune Friday April 20th, the week before the BBF Bash.
D. Sea- Posts: 2122
Join date: 2008-12-02
Age: 42
Location: Shelbyville, KY -
Re: A460 Block: 534ci engine build thread
D. Sea on Wed May 04, 2011 11:32 am
bumpage for newbies asking about the A460 Block ...
D. Sea- Posts: 2122
Join date: 2008-12-02
Age: 42
Location: Shelbyville, KY -
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